Zapu Golden Jubilee Celebrations a Success: PRESS STATEMENT

ZAPU wishes to announce that our 50th Anniversary Celebrations held at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo today were a resounding success.

We are however disappointed and sorry that a show by the Soul Brothers meant to ice the occasion did not take place after members of the group were denied entry into Zimbabwe by Department of Immigration officers at Beitbridge Border Post. The Soul Brothers' backing group and instruments arrived at the border post well before mid night on Friday 16 December, and spent more than 12 hours waiting to be cleared to enter Zimbabwe.

Zapu engaged a professional, licensed promotions company to process the necessary paperwork for the show as required by the law. We believe the promoter and ourselves did everything humanly possible to fulfill the requirements of the law, but were hard done by what we believe was a sabotage scheme by the usual suspects. We find it puzzling that even when we had produced all the necessary documentation to the immigration authorities in Bulawayo and were assured that all was in order, junior immigration officers in Beitbridge still refused to let the band and the instruments enter Zimbabwe, insisting on seeing the documents themselves.

Soul Brothers' lead singer David Masondo managed to enter the country through Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo airport yesterday afternoon and was devastated to learn that his band members were still detained at Beitbridge and were eventually deported back to South Africa in the afternoon.

All the same, the political event was a success as evidenced by the high turnout and solidarity messages from ANC, MPLA, Frelimo, Algeria, among others. The crowd appreciated the address by our president, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa. We are convinced our political objectives were achieved.
Zapu would like to thank our supporters for their exemplary behavior. We apologize for the fiasco involving the Soul Brothers.  
Thank you.

Methuseli Moyo
Director Information and Publicity, Southern Region